Trifecta

by Pam Richter

  Ferd finally gasped and started breathing. Eve thumped on his chest a few more times. Ferd's face was suddenly suffused with a rosy glow. Even the top of his bald head turned a bright pink. He blinked a few times, looking dazed.

  "I think he'll be all right, but he should go to a doctor," Eve said. "That was a cardiac arrest. Now we should go, Mark. The police are coming."

  "How do you know?" Mark wasn't surprised. This situation had turned into a nightmare.

  "Sirens. About a mile away, I think."

  Mark listened, but all he could hear was the men on the floor moaning. He decided to take her word for it. If they were a mile away, he and Eve might be able to get to the car and leave before the police arrived. He thought momentarily about taking Ferd with them, but the police could get Ferd help faster, anyway.

  "Remember what I said," Mark told the two men on the floor. "If you try to come after the computer, or the person she's cloned to, we'll go to the police and tell them what you were up to."

  Mark tried to sound threatening, but he had no idea what they were up to, really, except their intention to kill Sabrina, and they probably knew it.

  What a disaster.

  "We have to hurry." Eve pulled Mark out the door and ran down the stairs in front of him. She had started out the front door, but Mark suddenly wanted to see the machines that produced clones. He stopped, looked around, and went quickly down the side hall at the bottom of the stairs. The machines would have to be here, he thought, there wasn't anything else but this one hallway. He opened the light in a small room. There were two tanning beds. Above the couches there were hoods that went to the ceiling of the room, where he imagined the real machinery was located.

  Ferd's apartment was above the tanning room, so he probably worked the machinery from above. It was pretty amazing. Ferd looked like the sort of man who went to the park to feed the pigeons and doddered around ineffectually, living a simple life of aged forgetfulness. Mark tried to think of a word to describe Ferd. Sweet. And totally innocuous.

  Mark still had the gun in his hand and thought that maybe he should blow up the machinery. He could fire up into the hoods and end the nightmare. He might also kill someone in the apartment above if he fired randomly. There had been enough destruction for one night, so he turned off the light and jogged to the front door. He looked at the gun in his hand with distaste. Carrying it around if the police stopped them would be ruinous. He placed the gun on the front desk, next to the broken door knob, and went outside to join Eve.

  They went directly across the street and got into the car. The police car passed them from the opposite direction with flashing lights and sirens.

  All the way back Eve stared at Mark in unblinking silence.

  CHAPTER 4

  Sabrina had no idea her apartment was under surveillance and that government agents would be tailing her in the future as she waited for Mark and Eve to return. Morris, her cat, was meowing like she had abandoned him to starvation. Sabrina warmed some milk as he continued crying plaintively.

  The big orange cat hunched over the bowl, spattering milk with abandon. It never failed to make her smile and wonder at the coordination; drinking, purring and kneading. He meticulously washed his face. Sabrina loved taking care of Morris, but longed for a baby to care for.

  Sabrina wondered what Mark would do if she got pregnant. To do so when she was not sure of her financial future, or of Mark's intentions, was a little frightening. He might become quite agitated. But Sabrina wanted a family.

  The thought of a baby of her own brought back painful memories of the numerous foster homes that Sabrina had been shuttled to. There had always been some reason why they couldn't keep her. The Chadholms had been the nicest, with their home in Westwood and their three children to play with. Then Mr. Chadholm had a heart attack and there were financial cutbacks. Sabrina was the first. She had only been six when they sent her back to the orphanage. After that she had hardened her heart.

  There had been other foster families, but when Sabrina reached her teens, tall at five feet eleven inches, and skinny at just over one hundred pounds, no one wanted her. Adoptive parents and foster families wanted small, cuddly children. Sabrina actually scared the people who came to the orphanage and browsed through like it was a department store, appearing like a grim starvation victim who would be blown away on the next puff of a breeze with her naturally anorexic body type. The nicest thing she had overheard from the browsers was that the children should be fed more.

  Then, at fifteen, still living in the orphanage in the smoggy San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, she was discovered by a photographer, Tracy Rieber, while shopping at the Glendale Galleria Mall. At first he scared her. He was old, at least twenty-five, and almost as skinny as Sabrina. She had heard tales of slimy men with ghastly ulterior motives who used the Model-Ploy, so Sabrina was very suspicious. Bea, a friend from the orphanage, had taken Tracy's card and insisted Sabrina call him.

  That night Sabrina had taken off all of her cloths in the communal bathroom at the orphanage and looked in the mirror. She saw what were the beginnings of breasts. Actual breasts! She was ecstatic, having believed that she would never become a real female. That harbinger of womanhood, her period, had never arrived, and everyone she knew had their periods before the age of fifteen. Sabrina had thought of herself as an androgynous being; certainly not man, but neither a women. Now she was growing breasts! She turned in front of the mirror, examining herself from every angle. They actually pointed out a little, she could see it from the side view.

  The photography studio had been a little shed in Tracy Rieber's backyard in the suburbs of Burbank. The studio itself was extremely untidy, but Tracy had professional backdrops, brilliant lights and a platform for Sabrina to pose on. He kept telling her to look natural and to move. Sabrina felt extremely awkward, but he seemed pleased and snapped hundreds of photographs. He used a fan to blow her hair back, gave her hats and jackets, told her to stick her bottom out, to lean forward and pout. She was a natural. He went on and on about her perfect cheekbones, her tiny straight nose and wonderful white teeth. Sabrina had always liked her face, but he made her feel beautiful. He was her first lover.

  Sabrina learned not to stoop to hide her unusual height and found she could earn money with what she had believed to be her nemesis; the skinny body that had kept her out of warm foster homes, or that highest of achievements, a family of her own.

  Sabrina became an overnight success as an underage model, earning really 'Big Bucks,' and Tracy had been a kind lover, waiting until Sabrina was sixteen before starting the physical relationship. Sabrina, starved for affection from anyone, thought he was the most wonderful man in the world, until she caught him in the arms of another young protegee. She did not have enough confidence to be outraged. Besides, she wanted affection more than sex, and she received that in abundance from Tracy, who thought she was fabulous because she brought him 'Big Bucks' too, and a growing reputation as an outstanding photographer.

  Sabrina had the potential to become one of the top models in the country, but by the time she had finished college she decided she did not want that life, with the uncertainty she would feel as she grew older; new faces usurping her status. She did continue modeling though, and with her degree in business set out to find a job.

  Sabrina was aghast at the menial work and low pay she was offered after the ease she had found making substantial money at modeling. Sabrina felt that the only thing she could really care about was something of her own. Her own business.

  Sabrina loved fashion design and had learned a lot about it during her modeling career. At the age of twenty-five, she opened her own fashion boutique on trendy Melrose Avenue, where orange haired rock groupies and sophisticated yuppies came to buy her designs. Sabrina adored it. But the store's lease rent was formidably high in that fashionable area and Sabrina almost starved the first year. She got so thin she actually scared herself when she bothered to look in a mirror. Trying to predic
t each month if she would make much of a profit, she was always stymied. Some months were fantastic and others were disappointing, but she never wanted to give it up.

  Sabrina also designed beautiful nightwear and even undergarments. That became profitable when men started coming to find beautiful lingerie for their wives and girlfriends. That was how she had met Mark.

  Mark said he was buying a special present for his mother. Sabrina had not believed him for an instant, and he knew it, but they went through the charade of picking out the perfect silk nightgown for his mother, who must have a wonderful figure, Sabrina suggested, when he picked out a petite size five.

  Sabrina had been disappointed when Mark left. She wondered why she had been so attracted. He must like very small women, she thought unhappily. Then he was coming in and buying something almost every week. Sometimes two and three times a week. And he started buying larger sizes. Probably a tall buxom type, she thought, disappointed at the supposed infidelities to the tiny person he had dated before. The amounts he bought were staggering. Sabrina thought he must have a harem by the time the third month of the buying spree had concluded.

  When Mark asked her out, finally, she declined for two reasons. One was that he was a wonderful customer and she did not want to lose him. He always followed her advice, and she had good taste and a flair for decorating women. The other reason was that she had come to the conclusion that he must, indeed, have a great multitude of girlfriends. She was afraid to waste her fragile emotions and suffer the inevitable pain.

  Mark finally persuaded her because she was curious about his actual technique. A bona fide Don Juan. She couldn't resist checking out a real Romeo.

  Mark took her to Ma Mason for dinner and to Westwood to see a movie. Then Mark took her back to his apartment. Sabrina thought, Here it comes, he will now execute an elaborate seduction. Instead, Mark presented her with an enormous box and walked her out of his apartment. He told her to take it home, he had picked it out especially for her, but she couldn't open it until she reached her own apartment. He called a taxi, which she considered quite odd.

  Sabrina was a little disappointed at the lack of seduction. She was not only attracted to him, she liked him a lot.

  From his buying history in her store, she thought Mark must be famous with his girlfriends for gifts. As she carried the enormous box that her arms could not even reach around, she wondered if it was a giant stuffed panda bear. Fitting gift for someone he hadn't even kissed. It wasn't very heavy for such a big box. It didn't shake.

  Inside her apartment, she put the box in the middle of the floor, got the scissors and cut through all of the strings and scotch tape. She finally had it opened and pulled out lots of wrapping tissue. She then began pulling out all of the items Mark had bought in her store. Sabrina was flabbergasted. How did he know her size in underwear, she wondered, and began to laugh.

  Pinned to each item were little notes. 'You could wear this when we have dinner at...' 'This piece of jewelry would go perfectly with the blue scarf and blouse...' 'When we go dancing, this is what you can wear...' 'I can imagine you in this!!!'

  Sabrina drove back to his apartment and knocked on the door.

  He was waiting for her with champagne. Then he started the seduction. The rest was history. Now, no other man would do for her. She wanted Mark and she wanted his baby more than anything in the world.

  Tapping on the door brought Sabrina out of her reverie of the explosive first night with Mark. She looked at Mark and Eve expectantly when they came in. They both looked grim. No, Eve had a composed, vacant expression on her face, and she was not blinking.

  Sabrina led them into the kitchen. "What happened?"

  "We can talk about it later. You're safe now. For a few days," Mark said.

  Sabrina didn't understand his attitude.

  "Eve," Mark said, in her direction, not really looking at her, "Sabrina and I like to go out for drives at night. We need to be alone and talk. Would you mind if we left for a few minutes?"

  "No, Mark. I do not mind. But I was wondering, Sabrina, could I have some more of your excellent Aunt Jemima's Buttery Syrup? I'm very hungry."

  Eve made the syrup sound like some fine, expensive, imported wine. Sabrina went to the refrigerator and handed the syrup to Eve. As Eve drank out of the pour spout, Mark watched Eve with what looked like a worried expression. Mark wanted to talk to her alone, which meant that he had something to tell her that he didn't want to say in front of Eve.

  "We'll stop off at the store and get you some more syrup, Eve," Sabrina said.

  "I need six to ten thousand calories a day. That would help."

  "Are you sure all that sugar is good for you? Nutritionally?"

  "Ferd gave me glucose and milk as a diet, but he said that soon I would need more variety. I love pizza, too."

  Sabrina smiled at Eve. She thought Eve was funny and cute and interesting. She got some jars of vitamins from the cupboard and picked out several.

  Sabrina watched as Eve chewed each one and swallowed with the aid of syrup. Her eyes squinted, but her face stayed vacant.

  "Most people swallow them because they don't taste good."

  "I did not particularly like the flavor. In the future I will swallow them with syrup."

  "You can read or watch television, Eve," Sabrina said, reluctant to leave her alone.

  Sabrina thought that Mark was in an awful hurry as he rushed her out the door and they went down in the elevator.

  "What happened?" Sabrina asked, intensely curious.

  "Shh. I think she still might be able to hear us." Mark was whispering.

  "That's impossible."

  "No, it isn't." He frowned and put a finger over his lips.

  Sabrina silently got into Mark's car and they drove down Wilshire Boulevard toward Santa Monica. Mark explained in detail what had occurred at Ferd's Tanning Salon. When they got to the Santa Monica pier Sabrina was not at all surprised, although she had been too immersed in Mark's recital to notice where they were going. She and Mark always went to the beach when they wanted to talk. In the summer she would swim. Mark would advise about the pollution conditions. She loved the ocean and never listened.

  Mark parked and they started walking along the wooden boardwalk. It was almost deserted and the waves, lit by a full moon, came onto the shore like long, rolling, phosphorescent lights, tangling on the beach. They walked to the very end of the pier, their shoes making a hollow echoing sound on the wooden boards. Two tiny, ancient, Oriental men were fishing patiently, lines in the water far below.

  As they started walking back, Mark was frowning. Sabrina loved the way his thick eyebrows all bunched up when he was serious. "I know you think Eve is interesting and fascinating and everything, but I believe she's very dangerous. And vicious. She's not human, she has no feelings, and she scares the hell out of me. She has unbelievable strength and she's very, very heavy. She has to be reinforced with something other than just skin and bones. And I have an awful feeling that she's more than cloned to you. She may be imprinted."

  "Like a duck?" Sabrina asked, smiling.

  "I don't know. But you don't just break someone's legs! You're a stranger to her, almost, which is why I wonder why she would do such a thing. I'd hate to see her really angry."

  "She doesn't have emotions. Couldn't get angry."

  "Suppose she saw us making love. She would think I was hurting you and would probably kill me."

  Sabrina laughed. "I'm sure she knows how we procreate."

  "I'm serious. She could snap my neck, maybe yours too, very easily."

  "Ferd told her not to hurt anyone unless she was threatened."

  "You were in danger and she really hurt two men. Badly. How far would she go?"

  "I don't know. But it was a carefully thought out act. She wanted the men disabled enough so they couldn't come after me. They won't be able to get around very fast on crutches."

  "Doesn't that bother you?"

  "Of course. My gett
ing killed bothers me more, though."

  Sabrina turned so she was facing Mark and hugged him. "I really do appreciate what you did tonight, Mark."

  Mark hugged her back. "The bottom line is, I don't want you alone with her. I don't think it's safe. Stay with me tonight."

  "Do you think Eve will be all right? Alone and everything?"

  "You'd better believe it. With her accelerated healing and strength, I don't think anything could hurt her. Unless she starved to death without her syrup. She's just too unpredictable."

  "She does anything I ask."

  "I told her to do some things tonight and she didn't obey me. She was overriding my suggestions because of her priority to you. Right now, you're one of the most powerful people in the world. She would probably kill or steal for you."

  "She's programmed to obey."

  Mark was quiet for a moment. "If she got in the wrong hands and started obeying it could be disastrous."

  Sabrina nodded. The one thing she wanted, Eve could not get for her. Mark had had plans for tonight with another women, Sabrina just knew it, and if she was going to stay with him tonight, it might be her last chance to have his baby. The thought made tears come to her eyes, and her throat was suddenly very sore.

  "We better get her some syrup. Lots of it. I don't want her to be hungry," Sabrina said.

  They bought a case of syrup, a big tin of honey and some jars of jelly. It was interesting that Eve did not have pain receptors but could taste food and beverages. Probably so she wouldn't drink lye or eat detergents. It seemed that Ferd had thought of just about everything.

  But Sabrina wondered about Eve's lack of pain receptors. The thoughts were ominous. What if they wanted Eve to perform some task that was so dangerous and potentially hazardous it would cause injury or pain. Pain might keep her from obeying. It was an awful thought.

  CHAPTER 5

  Detective Sergeant Montgomery decided that the story the two lawyers told him, of being attacked during a burglary attempt was unlikely. They had been rushed to Ceder's Sinai Hospital along with their father.